of their desire Also they think it some profit onely to barke against y e trueth But whē Rabshakeh came from Babylon and blasphemed at the gates of Ierusalem good Ezechias following the rule of Salomon commanded saying Answere ye him not And I pray you who of vs woulde in the things of this life yeelde to an euill minded man that he should enter an action for the things whereof we haue the right and quiet possession But here the pretensed Catholiques are wise in their generation For when did they graunt to a free disputation or to haue any sermons made by them of the religion but beeing enforced thereunto Yea at this very time howsoeuer this Champion and some others challenge and call for disputation yet their forerunners and fathers in Poperie refuse the same With what forehead then can these Iesuites demaund of vs that themselues will not graunt Or seeing it hath bene graunted at Auspurge and at Poissy and els where and they gained nothing by the graunt why should they call the Ministers to an vnorderly disputation from their ordinarie charge wherein beside other dueties of their ministerie they soundly confute by the plaine word of God as occasion is offred euen the chiefest arguments that the enemie can alledge As for the trial these Iesuits wil make it shalbe w t false weights and measures which are an abomination to the Lord while after their custome they dispute with vnlearned and peeuish distinctions false arguments absurd interpretatiōs plausible notwithstanding to them that haue a forestalled iudgement against the trueth But S. Paul warneth vs to auoide thē that trouble the Church with such disputations and contentions For it is euident that the purpose of these Iesuites is but to cast in matter of griefe to the godly when they see so bolde enterprises of the enemie not at the walles of the citie but euen in the market place and as by a blasing starre to prognosticate some further matter to the Papist and time seruer but most of all to disturbe the peace of the Church and to make the people stagger in religion as many of them as by diligent hearing of the worde haue not attained to the certeine loue of the trueth Neuerthelesse although I thinke it inconuenient in a settled estate to haue the trueth of God and her Maiesties most godly proceedings called into disputation by these men who are her alienated subiectes and in this maner against a singular peace yet vpon other circumstances as disputations haue bene heretofore graunted so they may agayne For not wee but the Papistes refuse lawfull disputation not we but they feele and confesse that they get nothing thereby The inconueniencie is that which I note in the seditious practise of this man and his confederates Otherwise the common wealth hath more cause then y e Church to dreade their forces Wee seeke not to esche we any snare they can laye we feare not their euidence or doubt of our owne title They haue had and may haue the libertie of their pen if these Iesuites haue any thing that their masters had not or which our fathers in the Gospell haue not answered let thē lay it downe in writing w t true forme of argument which is the most certeine tryall of greatest iudgemēt in writing by the grace of God they shalbe answered For howe litle we feare them howe much they feare vs it appeareth by that they suffer not a scroule of religion or tending neuer so litle that way in any mās hand but it is presently a matter for the inquisition Yea they withhold the very word it selfe Wheras we find y t the very view of their outward Rome with her abominations and the inward seeing into y t heart of popish religion with her absurdities haue made many as well grosse Papists as others indifferent betwene both religions to stand resolued in the trueth and to acquaint themselues with the cleare and comfortable doctrine of Iesus Christ after the execrable superstitions of the Pope once throughly knowen But nowe to come to his letters I finde to speake generally that they haue a preface to nine articles the preface and articles being to the same purpose For all is in effect thus much that he hath taken a farre dangerous iourney boldly plainely to offer himself a procter to mainteine against al commers in disputation at the commandement of the Pope the Popish religion to confute the doctrine of Christ Iesus This is the chalenge The promise is to persuade euen Prince people professing the trueth that they are in error as if both Prince and people had not sufficient assurance of their faith or the chiefest Papistes did not from day to day receiue great ouerthrowes both in disputatiō and writing For to the glory of God in the ministerie of the Gospell be it remembred and to the heart griefe of al Romish Catholiques the Lord addeth to the true Catholique Church of his elect great numbers continually to those that openly professe the religion many notable cities which lately were first in the zeale of Poperie and are nowe not the last of them that embrace the trueth notwithstanding so many artes and insolencies vsed to stoppe the course and increase of the Gospell Therefore if the Lord do not punish our contempt of the word we professe what hope may our Chalenger haue that the Pope shall recouer others when he can not keepe his own no not them that lately carried the canopie ouer his head In the preface y e Iesuite reporteth his pilgrimage out of Germany and Boeme into Englād his deare coūtry at the cōmādemēt of his superiours y t sent him where he giueth a note of his danger of his obedience But touching his obedience it commeth to be noted afterward As for his dāgers I see them not so great as he pretēdeth For I dout not but he was wel contented that this place fell to his lot that he wayted a time to aduenture himselfe when there was in his opinion lesse danger then heretofore more hope of some golden daye But the man is come into this noble realme for the glorie of God and the benefite of soules What glory of God cā come by a man sworne to Antichrist against Gods glory sworne to the Councill of Trent against the peace of this kingdom What care of soules can hee haue which would withdraw their foode in enraged therfore would enrage others with y e cup of poison wherwith the whore of Babylō hath heretofore poysoned the princes of y e earth What benefite of soules can poore soules looke for at his hand that in place of the most cleare light of the Gospel would bring in a greater plague of darkenes then that of Egypt This is the effect of the Iesuites loue which he would shew to his deare coūtry after so many yeeres absence out of her sight Being now arriued
the same oracle and doeth it not appertayne to Campion in England Surely it doeth apperteyne asmuch but the open attempt is not so safe Therefore it commeth here to bee considered that the oracle hath a double heart and a double tongue set at large to denye or breake euen an othe made to one not of his sect and euermore to say and vnsaye to promise and breake promise as may make most for his deuilish practises 5. Now foloweth y e execution of his message wherein he asketh with shewe of great humilitie the thing that bewrayeth his singular pride For he aloue professeth with a chalenge in all knowledge touching his causes to encounter with all sortes of learning and learned men and against them notwithstanding their strength and the strength of their cause to prooue the most weake and languishing title of Popish religion And before whom Not before some fewe in a corner but in the light presence of this renowmed estate so enriched with singular giftes of learning experience and iudgement namely in the presence of her honorable Counsell before the Doctours Masters and choyse men of both the Vniuersities and thirdly before the lawyers spirituall as he speaketh and temporall But let vs further examine what hee vttereth In this place the Iesuite a man professing so great knowledge knoweth not himselfe he remembreth not in this article what he solemnly protested in the former For there he affirmed that he minded not that he might not in any respect deale with matters of state but now as hauing his will altered and a secrete dispensatiō against the charge of his fathers he wil discourse of religiō so far as it toucheth the cōmō wealth their nobilities But out of the abundāce of the heart doth the mouth speaketh the pen writeth It foloweth wherof he maketh most account to try the matter out with the doctors masters of ech vniuersity What he bringeth from a newe forge I may more easely gesse then determine But if it be no more then his masters of these all other vniuersities haue brought already into their bookes disputations it is nothing y t long agoe hath not bene confuted It may be not hauing better reasons he presumeth of him selfe that he hath fayrer colours then they had and a stronger spirite of illusion to deceiue and cary away y e preiudicate inconstant hearer against reason The manifolde waies he promiseth to cōuince by are profes inuincible scriptures c. If he can prooue his cause by inuincible scriptures it is sufficient there neede no further proofes But if he alledge y e scriptures for his cause as satan did as heretikes doe vsing some of the words leauing the fulnes of the sentence or peruerting y e words to another sense then the holy Ghost deliuereth then shall he preuaile as Satan did and his reward shalbe among the false prophetes As for Councils Fathers and stories they are rather witnesse one to another of some contrarietie and all witnesses of y e time howe corruptions crept into the Church then authentical iudges in causes of religion Neuerthelesse we haue if we woulde vse thē in their true allegation matter sufficient to confute y t which the Iesuite hopeth to confirme by false allegation Touching places in the fathers to the contrary some of thē are alredy condemned of bastardie being places manifestly forged other not gyltie of forgery howe great so euer the authors of thē were yet it is euident they were but men that the word of God alone hath credit of for it selfe that y e word of God alone is y e touchstone fining pot y t sheweth y e least corruption the least cōmixture of corruption much more the palpable errors of y e new Iesuites Moreouer for the latter Councils because y e Pope reigned ouer thē he being now arraigned is no lawfull witnesse in his owne case And because these Councils make warre against the authoritie of Gods word y e Spirit of y e Lordes mouth which is his word shal proceed more and more to consume them Afterwarde the Iesuite not so carefull to performe as to moue great expectation by promise draweth mē to looke for profes of his religiō where profes are no more to be founde then a sure foundatiō vpon the sande or a place of light in the kingdome of darkenes So impossible are the things that now he vndertaketh For among other proofes he vndertaketh to auow y e faith of the Catholike Church by naturall and morall reason which are two great enemies of true religion two great nourses of Atheisme and heresie The Apostle teacheth this that the naturall man can not discerne the thinges of God they seeme foolishnes to him Dauid finding the rebellion and ignorance of a naturall heart craued a cleane heart to bee created within him and a newe spirit newe not onely in affections but in vnderstanding that hee myght learne the iudgementes of God For want of this heart Salomon was a stranger from God a long time notwithstanding he had a natural and morall wisdome aboue any that euer reigned in Ierusalem Peter coulde not receiue the reuelation of fayth from flesh and blood but this Iesuite can deliuer it from thence Therefore the religion which Iesuites woulde plant againe in England is not according to y e holy Scriptures giuē by inspiration of God but according to the carnall sense of vntaught men which must haue gods to goe before them that is they must haue a religion allowing gods images worshippings in y e feeling and wisdome of a naturall man that can not looke with the eyes of fayth vp into heauen nor with spirituall iudgement into y e great mysterie of godlinesse conteined in the holy scriptures Last of all this chalenger as one brought vp in y e Innes of court at Padua in the middest of spiritual lawyers vndertaketh to iustifie his said faith by commō wisdome of law standing yet in force practised Wherein againe he promiseth to paye out that which he neuer receiued in But if he hath borowed somewhat out of the lawes to saue his credit let vs examine howe farre it may go for paiment Among other lawes he relieth most vpon the Canon lawe and some such fragments thereof as yet he thinketh to stand in some force To speake therfore of the Canon law many matters therein are so grosse that euen many Papistes which otherwise haue a harlots forehead cā not read them without blushing Neuerthelesse out of a sea of such absurdities there is a booke extant y t hath gathered many notable places to proue aboue thirtie poyntes of our religion This was the iust iudgement of God against the Popes that they setting downe wicked canons shoulde not remember to take away y e good Nowe for so much of that law as is in practise if it be not pure let
important he notwithstāding promiseth himselfe without doubt as hauing y e disposition of their hearts in his hande that they also will at last for their own soules for many thousand soules that depend vpō their gouernmēt discoūtenāce the religiō hearken vnto Papistry He would not beforehand make this promise which is his chiefe purpose drawe the multitude to expect backsliding in their honors if he did not highly esteeme his owne basenesse basely iudge of their excellēcie But how doth this inconstant Iesuite still giue in one line and take away in another Haue her Maiesties most honorable Counsell wisdome in cases most importāt are they without wisdome in the most importāt cause of religiō which more thē al other causes importeth them for their owne soules many thousande soules beside Without this wisdom of God in the Gospell there is no wisedome in the wisest men of the worlde Then the Iesuite withdrawing from their honors this wisdome he attributeth to them a wisedome which is no wisedome and so his praises are no praises But he findeth in their wise gouernment feeleth their wisedome to bee according to knowledge their knowledge ioyned with zeale according to y e reuealed trueth which they vnder her Maiestie mainteine to Gods glory y e cutting off of Popish enterprises to the contrary Wherefore y e ages that shal come after shall witnes for her Maiestie for them that in singular wisdom they haue restored mainteined the glorious Gospell of Iesus Christ blessedly withstoode the flatteries of Iesuites and the violence of the vnholy fathers army that would in Englād set vp the beast that must be throwen downe into the nethermost hel neuer rise againe whose feareful fall will draw with it the fall of as many as depend vpō her yeeld their seruice to her notwithstanding her intolerable pride bloody fornications Moreouer this Iesuite writeth to their honor without regard of their honors For as if they had no eyes to see nor hearts to consider what may be and what hath bene said for Popish religion he wil now open the questions of religion so faithfully that their honors shall see the substantiall groundes whereon the Popish faith is builded Haue all other Iesuites wanted learning Haue euen this Champions masters wanted strength in the field and dexteritie in their enterprises To heale the woundes of the beast are all other Phisitions Phisitions of no valew Thus we see how this Iesuite chargeth the Lordes as not hauing their eyes yet open to see what religion is and also noteth the wantes of his masters that haue not done that himselfe will vndertake But to performe all these promises he must not alledge the authoritie of his oracle for the oracle himself may sooner with Atlas beare the weight of the worlde vpon his shoulders then mainteine so great a quarell as is the defense of the Romish Church against the Gospel of God as is the maynteining of the worldly kingdome of the Pope against the spirituall and mightie kingdome of Iesus Christ After these things he returneth to his slaunders against the preachers of the worde charging them that they huddle vp and confounde questions of religion But whatsoeuer the Iesuite thus casteth out in malicious false termes God bath blessed the preachers of the Gospell with worthie gifts and a pure forme of preaching agreeable to the puritie of the Gospel which they professe So that if our aduersaries their giftes come to a right examination it shall appeare to al men that if Papists haue learning so we also if they haue order and methode so wee also if they haue giftes to perswade we much more vpon more excellent groundes And which is more then all whereas they preach men we preache God whereas they preache error we preache the trueth not according to men but according to the foundation of the holy Prophets and Apostles Christ Iesus being the head corner stone As for Antiquitie Fathers Coūcils we allowe them as farre as the worde of God doeth not disalowe them But if any oracle from heauen or consent of all the worlde teache or perswade any thing otherwise then we haue receiued in the word we subscribe to the sentence alreadie pronounced by Saint Paul and registred in his holy Epistle to the Galathians What kinde of new preaching these new Iesuites bring I know not but if they followe the veine of their forefathers the auncient Friers then I know that they wil draw byase whether they huddle or no. The worlde is yet full of volumes wherein their sermons are penned downe but with matter so ridiculous and Latine so barbarous that all bookes written to make sport must giue place to them From charging the preachers he proceedeth to charge y e sway of the time for preuayling against him and his The time is neither shorter nor longer better nor worse in it selfe therefore in this figuratiue speach he couertly chargeth the gouerners of the time Wherein he againe vttereth his murmuring repineth that his golden times so often calculated can yet take no place But blessed be the Lord that hath stretched out his arme the swaye and stroke whereof preuayleth against all enemies of the kingdome of Iesus Christ and let not their praises die for euer whome the Lord hath raysed vp to be his instruments in so glorious a worke As for the best blood in your bodies which you woulde spēd for their honors which of them require any such sacrifice at your hande who stand in neede of it In so euil a cause as the perswading of error what can it auaile If I may againe aduise you keepe it to preserue life it may be the Lord hath appointed a day for your true repentance that renouncing your former workes of merite and supererogation you may receiue y e loue of the trueth and builde your faith vpon the merites of Christ alone which shalbe your owne saluation And leaue to professe loue where you practise treason cease to promise the sheading of your blood willingly as in a good cause whereas experience hath lately shewed that you your confederates lost blood in a notorious euill cause But that was the mercy of God that watcheth ouer vs still to take the wicked in their wickednes which mercie shall watch ouer vs continually if we auoide the contempt of y t Gospel we professe and shewe our selues thankefull to his maiestie for so great mercies Againe the Iesuite flaunteth in words vaunteth of his innocent handes lifted vp to heauen euery day euery houre as for the good of their honours To make your hands no fowler then they are yet those innocent handes haue written no innocent bookes they haue cast abroade no innocent libels they helde out no innocent banner of Popish obedience in their actual rebellions heretofore in England presently in Ireland But if those handes may be innocent that haue done